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Funds of Pastor Charged in Rape Are Studied

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A Harlem minister charged Sunday with raping two teen-age members of his Pentecostal church has been the target of an investigation into his finances and style of living, law-enforcement officials said yesterday.

Major elements of the investigation, conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney for the last two months, are allegations that the minister, the Rev. Thomas Streitferdt, maintained a $1.4 million waterfront estate in Old Field, L.I., and property in St. Croix and Mexico financed by contributions illegally coerced from his 700-member congregation, said the officials, who declined to be identified.

The church, the True Church of God, is at Third Avenue and 127th Street. It is not affiliated with any established Pentecostal denomination.

Marvin Jay Berkeley, a lawyer for the minister, said the rape charges against him were not true. 'Deeply Religious'

''He is an honorable, deeply religious man who tries his best to try to help people,'' Mr. Berkeley said. He declined to comment on Mr. Streitferdt's finances, and he said the minister was unavailable for an interview.

According to the law-enforcement officials, Mr. Streitferdt's finances have been under investigation for more than two months, well before his arrest Sunday on charges of rape and sodomy.

They said the investigation had shown that Mr. Streitferdt listed his 1987 income at only several thousand dollars. However, they said his income did not include the contributions and various payments that church members were required to make.

The officials said Mr. Streitferdt maintained the church-owned Long Island estate for his family, including his wife, a son who is an assistant pastor, and a daughter. According to the officials, the family has the exclusive use of three church-owned Mercedes-Benz automobiles.

The officials said the 700 adult members of the church were required to contribute 10 percent of their annual income, a portion that increased to 30 percent every third year, as a condition for remaining in the church. Growth in Membership

According to the officials, such contributions, called tithes, are not illegal, so long as they are given voluntarily. The officials declined to specify the illegal coercion of which they accused him.

The 59-year-old minister, who is white, also controls the finances of many members, most of whom are black, by keeping their savings at a bank he set up through his church, the officials said.

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Mr. Streitferdt became pastor of the church in 1964 when it had 200 adult members. Having grown to 700, it includes a school with classes from kindergarten to the 11th grade.

The church building, a modern brick and stucco structure near the Triborough Bridge, was dedicated in June 1975, according to a cornerstone. The glass doors, which reveal a modern interior decorated with red carpeting and stonework, were locked yesterday afternoon and posted with no-trespassing signs.

A church employee who came out of a side door said that Mr. Streitferdt, whose name is emblazoned on the north side of church in 2 1/2-foot letters, was not in the building and that no church officials would comment on his case. But the employee said the minister would conduct services as usual on Sunday at 9:30 A.M. The services will be open to the public, the employee said. Not Regulated by State

The law-enforcement officials said church members with children in the school were required to pay $600 a year in tuition for each child. The school is not regulated by the state because it does not go through the 12th grade and does not offer a diploma.

Anyone not buried under church auspices at Rose Hill Cemetery in Linden, N.J., at an additional fee, were told they ''would not go to heaven,'' the officials said.

The rape and sodomy charges were expected to be presented to a grand jury tomorrow by the Manhattan District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau.

However, law-enforcement officials said the grand jury action would be delayed to give investigators more time to look into Mr. Streitferdt's finances.

At his arraignment Monday in Criminal Court in Manhattan, Mr. Streitferdt was released on $25,000 bail.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the two girls, whom the police refused to identify, one was sexually attacked by Mr. Streitferdt in December 1986 and the other in January 1987.

There was no explanation why the girls, 14 and 16 years old, had waited more than a year to file a criminal complaint.

A version of this article appears in print on May 19, 1988, on Page B00005 of the National edition with the headline: Funds of Pastor Charged in Rape Are Studied. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe